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Forgotten Traditions

By Katie Gaudette

Once upon a time, weddings were simple affairs laden with
tradition that gave them great meaning. Today weddings are a multi-billion
dollar industry. Every bride is convinced that she needs to spend thousands of
dollars on this special event. In the rush to get every detail right, many have
forgotten old wedding traditions that were once precious and meaningful. All of
this comes to mind when stumbling upon a treasure in our collections vault.

This
treasure is a dress that was once ivory colored. The detail is incredible,
especially knowing that the wearer made it herself. Most of the dress is
covered in tulle embroidery style lace. The hem catches the eye as the intricacy
of embroidery lace increases. Venice lace in a Queen Anne pattern adorns cut
outs all around the dress in a cascading circle pattern. The beauty of the
dress is striking even with the discoloration caused by 103 years of storage.
With the dress is a handkerchief that has a large “E” embroidered on one
corner. This was carried by the bride on the day of her wedding.

The
bride wore this beautiful dress in 1914, at sixteen years old; her name was
Veronica Sue Galik, one of nine children. Born in Canada she was the product of
an Austrian Polish father and a German Polish mother. Her father, Jacob Galik,
worked as a coal miner for the Texas Pacific Coal Company. Most likely the
family lived on Polander Hill in Thurber. Veronica’s groom was a coal miner
named Frank Bida, a Polish immigrant. Bida spoke only Polish. One wonders how
the pair spoke to each other considering Veronica most likely spoke English
while Bida spoke only Polish, unless Veronica spoke two languages. This also
begs the question of how well the two knew each other at the time of their
marriage.

One of
the things that the wedding industry has caused us to lose from our weddings are
the traditions that were once the focus of these gatherings. Because of the recent
immigration of Bida and the Galik’s, Veronica and Frank more than likely
observed these traditions like the blessings of salted bread and wine and the
ozepiny. In the blessing of salted bread and wine, each of the parents of both
bride and groom give the couple a blessing followed by the couple biting into
salted bread, taking a drink of wine, then smashing the glass for good luck.
The bread represents prosperity. The salt represents the difficult times the
couple will face, and the wine symbolizes that the couple will never thirst
again.

The ozepiny is a ritual in which
single women stand in a circle around the bride, then one of the single women
takes the veil off the bride. Finally a married woman pins a hat on the brides
head as the circle around her becomes a circle of married women to signal the
bride’s transition into a married woman. These are just a few of the many
Polish wedding traditions that Veronica Galik and Frank Bida observed at their
wedding.

Veronica
and Frank more than likely had a simple wedding full of meaningful tradition,
while most American weddings are now more about the decoration and the catered
meal than the meaning of the wedding. This loss of heritage specific traditions
speeds up as immigrant families assimilate into American culture with little
more than their last name as a link to their family heritage.

The W. K. Gordon Center is a museum and research facility of Tarleton State University dedicated to the preservation of the history of Thurber and industrial development in Texas.
The focus of the permanent exhibits in the Center is the history of the coal, brick, and petroleum industries in the Thurber area. A special collections library and research area permits serious examination of life in Thurber and in other areas of industrial development in Texas.